Trade
by klutzysunshine
Summary: Ward trades himself to save Skye after she's kidnapped.


**I don't own Agents of SHIELD and never will. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Warnings:** Torture

* * *

Once he heard that Skye had been kidnapped - shockingly, not by Hydra this time - Ward immediately knew what he had to do. Kara eyed him and sighed. "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?"

He shook his head. "Sorry, I've already made up my mind."

"You don't need to fucking trade yourself, Grant! Why do you have a death wish, damn it? Please think about this. You can swoop in there and save Skye some other way," she pleaded tearfully. He was her best friend and Kara couldn't let the idiot do this.

Ward sighed but refused to acknowledge that he could do that. "Kara, it's okay. I need to do this."

She nodded and impulsively hugged him, apologizing when he flinched away (they were working on that). "You will survive this and then I'm going to yell at you once it's over," Kara warned.

Ward didn't tell her that he probably would die making this gamble - she needed the hope after everything she had been through. He was expendable anyway so it didn't really matter - no one (except for Kara) would care about his death. He burned his bridges when he betrayed SHIELD and nothing - not even helping to take down Hydra - would change that. Ward had accepted that a long time ago, even though he and Kara occasionally did some side jobs for Coulson. And going down saving Skye? He was okay with that. "I'm looking forward to it."

Kara knew he expected to die and she intended to make her way to the Playground and force the others to save Ward if she had to because she wasn't going to let that happen. "I'll miss you when you're gone," she whispered to him.

"Thanks. I'll miss you too." He waved goodbye to her and then got in his (stolen) car and took off towards the location where the kidnappers had insisted on meeting him - alone.

The man was masked and Ward wanted to laugh at his attempts to hide his identity. Seriously? "You surprised us, Grant Ward. Why are you trading yourself? Are you that much in love with the bitch?"

"Don't call her that," Ward snarled.

The man laughed. "Don't talk back to me, boy. You're going to regret it. And you were Hydra too but you betrayed them? Oh, we'll get the information we want."

Ward wisely didn't mention anything about Skye's powers because he assumed the man would have by now if that's the reason she had been kidnapped. He put on his cocky persona and smirked. "Oh, you'll get all the information you need. I'm guessing you didn't break her?"

"I told you not to ask questions." The but of the gun came up and Ward didn't have any time to regret his actions before his world went dark.

When he woke up, Ward was in a warehouse and he groaned as he touched his now sticky head. His hand came away bloody. He definitely had a concussion (fuck, again). He scrambled up when he saw Skye sitting against the wall. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to save you."

Skye looked at him suspiciously. "And how's that working out for you?" she sarcastically asked.

Ward tried to glare but he laughed. He stood up slowly when their kidnappers returned. "The trade is complete. Agent Skye is free to go." He pulled her up (despite both their angry protests) and pushed her out the door. He was left alone to ponder his choices (yeah, he couldn't even take that thought seriously) in the dark.

He tried his best to sleep and since he had been in worse conditions, he really didn't mind the uncomfortable hard floor. Ward came to with a groan when one of the kidnappers returned and kicked him in the stomach. He instinctively curled up into a ball but that didn't deter one of the men. "Give me the location of SHIELD's secret base," he ordered.

Ward couldn't help but laugh. "Go fuck yourself."

That earned him another kick. "Wrong answer. Tell me where it is."

He refused to answer and hoped they would just hurry up and kill him already. He deserved it, should have died a long time ago. "Fuck you," he wheezed.

"Do you need a little incentive?" The masked man grabbed his hand and broke several fingers but Ward refused to cry out in pain - he didn't want to give them the satisfaction. And honestly, he had been through worse. This was nothing in comparison to Garrett.

He felt a crack as a few of his ribs broke. "Fuck," Ward murmured to himself.

"This is getting boring. We'll be back and you'll fucking regret this by the time we're done with you. You will give us what we need." The kidnapper left him alone for a while.

Ward wondered if Skye was back at the base yet - she had probably called Coulson and they were on their way to get her. At least he hoped so. As long as she was safe, that was all that mattered. He laid on the ground for what felt like hours before the men returned again. "Is anybody even looking for you, Agent Ward? I doubt it."

"I'm not going to tell you what you want to know." He refused to betray the team (his family, he had realized too late) again.

"We'll make you talk." The shorter man smirked and stepped on his broken fingers.

This time, Ward couldn't help the strangled scream that escaped and hated himself for revealing a weakness like this. He started laughing as a way to deal with the pain. "You won't."

Silence as they left him alone again. He had still been through worse with Garrett and his family so this was nearly a walk in the park. Ward wondered when they'd get it through their heads that he wasn't going to break - probably never since they seemed stupid. Who were they working for? He'd never find out anyway so it didn't matter.

Ward turned around and threw up when the pain in his head suddenly spiked. He wiped his mouth and groaned. "Fucking concussion," he muttered.

They returned with knives and he glared at the men. "We told you we were going to make you break," the taller one taunted. He picked up Ward's left arm, pushed up his sleeve, and made a small cut. Ward tried to figure out where they were going with this but he couldn't think straight anymore. He got his answer when he was stabbed through the shoulder and his world erupted into a haze of white hot pain. The knife was slowly pulled out after and it was horrific to him. Ward still refused to break, though, because he was stronger than this.

He gathered all the energy he could spare and spat at them before passing out. When Ward came to, he stared at the puddle of blood on the floor in dull surprise. He had actually expected more than this. "I can't be broken," he whispered when boots entered his line of vision. He was already broken so they weren't going to succeed.

The shorter man hauled him to his feet (it fucking hurt) and punched Grant. He rigidly stood still. "I've heard rumors about what you've been through but I didn't really believe them until now. We'll figure out your weakness, Agent Ward, and then you will pay. Tell us about the secret SHIELD base and then give us all your Hydra secrets."

A dazed Ward started swaying and couldn't cushion his fall as the floor rushed up to meet him. He woke up to another kick. "We couldn't let you sleep this away, could we?" mocked the taller man.

Ward refused to answer, certain that they would get fed up soon enough and finish the job. How long had he been here? He didn't think it had been all that long but he was uncertain how much time had passed because everything was hazy at this point. The lack of response pissed the men off and they retaliated by stabbing his foot. There wasn't a part of him that wasn't on fire and he wondered how bad he looked. It didn't really matter in the long run and he needed to go away to deal with this. It worked before but they wouldn't let him shut down. They threw water in his face every time he tried. "Get it over with already," he bit out.

"Where's the fun in that?"

The sound of gunfire suddenly erupted and Ward looked up. He didn't understand why someone was here to save him but he didn't question it. "You're about to learn the definition of fun." And then he collapsed against the wall and slid back to the floor, surprised he had managed to stand so long.

He watched the men attempt to flee as they exchanged gunfire with whoever had come to save him and sighed in relief when the shorter man went down with a bullet to the forehead. The shorter man followed within minutes and then Skye and Kara burst into the room.

"Holy fuck," Skye gasped as she kneeled down next to him. She barked into her coms that she needed an ambulance immediately. "You're going to be okay, Grant."

Kara tried to find an uninjured part of his body to comfort him but eventually gave up. "At least you're not dead," she tried.

He laughed. "That's a plus," Ward conceded. He whined when Skye touched his shoulder stab wound. She cringed and apologized but he told her there was nothing to be sorry for.

His world went dark and when Ward woke up, he was in the med bay at the Playground. Sitting next to him, Skye awoke with a jolt and blinked at him for a minute. "You're awake!"

He nodded. "How bad it is?"

"You're going to be fine - it'll take a while to heal but there'll be no lasting damage. You were only there for thirty-four hours."

"Seemed longer than that," he murmured.

"I bet." And then Skye burst into sobs and he stared at her in alarm. "You idiot, this is why I shot you in San Juan. I didn't want you to follow me and die like Trip did - or thought he did. He really likes using that invisibility power and scaring the shit out of us."

He patted her shoulder and brushed her hair back. "Don't cry. I can't stand it when you're upset, Skye."

"I can't help it. I love you, Grant Ward, and I forgive you."

"Don't forgive me just because I traded myself for you. I don't need pity." His heart swelled at her love confession but she had only told him that because she felt guilty. No one cared about him that way and they never would.

Skye glared at him. "You're lucky you're injured right now. This isn't a pity or guilt confession. I may have been so furious with you I could barely stand it for a long time but I'm past that now. I love you," she insisted.

"Really?" Ward didn't really know what hope felt like so he struggled to accept her words as truth.

"Really," she confirmed.

He grinned from ear to ear. "I love you too, Skye."

She grinned. "Can I kiss you?"

Ward nodded. "Just be careful."

"Always." Then Skye leaned down and gently kissed him.

Claps and cheers interrupted them and they looked over at the open door. "About time!" Kara cried before the ground shook a little. "Rude," she muttered.

"Why are you eavesdropping? And so obviously at that? Get back to work!" Skye ordered. Kara, Fitz, Jemma, and Bobbi scattered in different directions and left them alone.

Ward's body shook with laughter (he was thankful for the drugs numbing his body). "They haven't changed, have they? And now that they have Kara on their side, it's only going to get worse."

"Eh, they just want what they think is best for us. And we have a lot of time to make up for because you were being a jerk."

"Understatement." He chuckled and kissed her again.

Both hoped they would never be kidnapped again, and Skye helped him during his recovery from his numerous injuries. And their friends annoyed them but that was nothing new.


End file.
